Civil Rights Challenges to President Trump's Executive Orders on Immigration and Refugees

During his first week in office, President Trump issued three Executive Orders relating to immigration and refugee policy, acting on promises he made during his presidential campaign. The two immigration orders, available here and here directed much heavier use of detention for those seeking lawful status, punitive measures against so-called "sanctuary jurisdictions," an increase to the number of deportation officers, and building of a border wall. The original order on refugees, available here, totally barred admission into the United States of all nationals of Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen—including those who are already legal greencard holders here. It suspended the refugee program for all countries for 120 days (indefinitely for Syria).

Since then, the Trump Administration has continued to issue newly restrictive immigration policies, most notably announcing the rescission of DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), a program that provided limited protections to undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children.

After each new order, litigation challenging it ensued immediately. The Clearinghouse has been tracking that litigation on the following special collection pages:

Travel Ban Litigation

Immigration Enforcement Order Litigation

FOIA Requests Pertaining to Trump Administration Immigration Policy

The Trump Administration has made restrictive immigration policy central to its work. The Clearinghouse will continue to follow these cases closely and create new collections as new policy emerges.